14. John Ross, Message to the General Council,
[between 10 and 16] July 1830

Friends and Fellow Citizens

The constituted authorities of Georgia
having assumed the power to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over a large portion of our
Territory, and our Political Father, the Chief Magistrate [Andrew Jackson] of the United
States, having declared that he possesses no power to oppose, or interfere with Georgia in
this manner, our relations with the United States are placed in a strange dilemma.
The grave aspect of this picture calls for your calm and serious reflections. I
have therefored deemed it my incumbent duty, on this extraordinary occasion, to convene
the General Council of the Cherokee Nation.

The prayers of our memorials before the
Congress of the United States have not been answered. But it is gratifying to know that
numerous similar petitions from various sections of the United States have been presented
in favour of our cause by a large portion of the most respectable call in the community,
and that our rights have been ably vindicated in Congress by some of the most
distinguished statesmen. But notwithstanding the unanswerable arguments which have
been advanced, under these appeals,there seems to have been a settled determination, by a
small majority in Congress, to make further efforts to bring about a removal of all the
Indians east of the Mississippi, beyond that great river, by making the question a general
one, and acting upon the principles of policy and expediency - the respective claims and
rights of each tribe under existing treaties with the United States were viewed only as
secondary consideration - consequently, an act has been passed "to provide for an
exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for
their removal west of the river Mississippi." The House of Representatives,
however, by a very large majority, adopted this amendment which has been accepted by the
Senate, "Providing that nothing in this act shall be construed as authorizing or
directing the violation of any existing treaty between the United States and any of the
Indian tribes."

It is much to be regretted that we find
in the reports of some of the acting Agents of the General Government and other designing
and interested individuals, that our true motives, disposition and condition have been
grossly perverted and misrepresented. this may in part be attributed to a want of
correct and full information upon the points of which they pretend to speak, and in some
respects to an inclination to deceive the public with the view of effecting certain
political ends.

The fee simple title to our soil has
been vainly asserted to be in the people of Georgia; and that state has arrogated to
herself the power to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over us, and by legislative
enactments, has declared all out laws, ordinances, orders, regulations, and usages to be
null and void, and peremptorily demands submission to her proscriptive and oppressive
laws, under the most degrading circumstances. She has pointed to her jails,
penitentiary and gallows for practising obedience to our own laws; and independent of all
our treaties with the United States, and the acts of Congress which have been passed for
the protection of our individual and national rights, the Chief Magistrate of the Union
has warned us against any hope of interference on his part, with Georgia in the exercise
of this power, yet, he says, that such power as the laws give him for our protection,
shall be executed for our benefit, and this will not fail to be exercised in keeping our
intruders; beyond this he cannot go. An officer commanding a detachment of U. S. Troops,
who has been ordered into the nation, as it is said, for the purpose of removing
intruders, has communicated to the Cherokees at the Gold mines the following notice:
"That an arrangement has been entered into, by which there will be a mutual
assistance between the United States Troops and civil authority of Georgia in all civil
processes, the jurisdiction of Georgia having been extended over the chartered limits, and
all the natives are hereby advised to return to their homes and submit to the proclamation
of the State authority. E. TRAINER, Lieut. Com'g. P.S. They cannot be
supported any longer in any thing inconsistent with the laws of the State."

Thus you will see that the rights and
liberties of the Cherokee people are most grievously assailed.

Our delegation were authorized, if it
should become necessary, to consult and employ counsel to defend our cause before the
Supreme Court of the United States, in which tribunal, as the conservatory of the
Constitution, Treaties and laws of the Union, we can yet hope for justice, and to which we
should fearlessly and firmly appeal. I would, therefore, recommend the expediency of
passing a law, authorizing some person to assert the rights of the Cherokee nation in all
Courts of law and equity in the United States; also to address the President of the United
States frankly, openly and respectfully, on the subject of our unhappy situation, and
request his parental interference in all points as far as treaties and laws of the United
States acknowledge and secure to us our rights; until the controversy at issue with
Georgia be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States . . .

John Ross

14. John Ross, Message to the General
Council, [between 10 and 16] July 1830, in Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Papers of Chief
John Ross vol. 1 (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), 190-92.